When I first saw the house that we live in now, I loved it and you know how it is when you're first in love, you miss a lot of the flaws. Now the lack of places to hide my mess is not a deal breaker by any means, but I need to have more places to put my stuff!
Many of you, who know me, have heard my "Rules for Knick Knacks" speech. If you give me a knick knack as a gift, it better be a good one or it will be voted off the island. See, I grew up in a home that was filled with love, fun, and knick knacks! Once or twice a year we would have to help my mother clean them and I...well....I grew to hate knick knacks in any quantity. Cleaning wedge wood with a toothbrush was not part of the "fun" as far as I was concerned but it only happened every once in a while, so I tolerated it. Now you know my little secret and its origins. I have had therapy and forgiven my mother for ruining my taste for knick knacks but I still can only tolerate a small designated space for a selection of the best of knick knack giftery.
Name that segue! I actually lost myself while blogging. Crazy. Oh yea.
Here is my segue. Storage shortage, my stuff, Do I have a lot of stuff?, Stuff, Junk, Knick Knacks, Knick Knack Rules. By the way, this is a little game that I have played since high school. When someone would go off topic in a drastic way and very suddenly, I would exclaim "Name that segue!" and the logic was often surprising. Try it sometime.
I am a bit tangential today aren't I? I am listening to Earth, Wind and Fire. There I go again.
Back to my original point, I need to increase my storage options and I don't want to spend a fortune to do it. Is this possible? Yes it is! You don't need mad carpentry skills to build a bookshelf or a bed for that matter. It could be as easy as re-purposing something you already have, finding the perfect item at a garage sale, or using up some of the scrap wood you have in the basement. If you are like me and enjoy a good woodworking project then I have a good website for you.
http://ana-white.com/, Ana is a stay-at-home mom who started by hacking up wooden pallets and is now like Norm Abrams, Master Carpenter from This Old House, only really pretty. I aspire to be Ana. Anyway, I am thinking that I can take some of her ideas and twist them to fit in my world. I have been wanting to create little low wall/shelves between my living and dining rooms. Hmmmmmmmmmm. I am advocating for looking at plans and ideas that you might have a little differently to see if you can come up with a better, more green, less expensive, or just more fun way to get those ideas done.
For storage, I especially like these puzzle shelves. They do corners! The side shelves can pivot around the two center boxes. Love it! You can get all kinds of plans at Ana's site. Did I mention that she is from Alaska? I really need to be Ana.
My current wood project is to build Max a Karate belt rack but I have plans for the winter months. Big plans! I have many home projects going all at the same time and that is alright. It may take me 2 years to redo a bathroom but the end product is just as I pictured it and I am good with that. How many of you are do it yourselfers? What is the project that made you most proud when you were done? Mine is the little bathroom under our stairs even though it is not quite done yet. To get inspired in my DIY moods, I have a ton of places that I surf. From me to you, here are some great links that may help inspire you to do great things.
http://www.diyideas.com/
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/
http://cfabbridesigns.com/blog/
http://dollarstorecrafts.com/
http://www.diy-guides.com/
http://www.centsationalgirl.com/tutorials/
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/
http://fromhousetocozyhome.blogspot.com/
Please always remember and don't ever forget:
"It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project."
Napoleon Hill
No comments:
Post a Comment